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Shares Fall in Betfair Group After Takeover Talks Fail

Betfair Group rejects final bid from consortium.

LONDON -- Betfair Group(LSE:BET) saw its share price fall over 6.5% in early trade this morning, with more than 60 pence knocked off its closing price of 895 pence yesterday, after it reported that takeover discussions with CVC Capital Partners, Richard Koch, Antony Ball, and partners had been terminated.

The interested consortium also announced that it had been "unable to agree financial terms with the board... and as a result has no intention of making an offer," with Betfair's board considering the final bid to undervalue the company.

Commenting on the news, Betfair chairman Gerald Corbett said:

The Board has spent considerable time assessing the various proposals, including detailed discussions with the Co-offerors. The Board concluded that none of the proposals represented adequate value or acceptable execution risk.

Under the new direction of Breon Corcoran and his management team the Board believes that Betfair is making excellent progress in the implementation of its strategy with momentum building from early success. The Board remains confident in the continued delivery of this strategy and the Company's outlook and growth prospects.

Previously, on April 22, Betfair revealed that it had rejected a preliminary proposal from the "co-offerors" regarding a possible offer for the company at an offer price of 880 pence per share.

Then, following the announcement of Betfair's trading and strategy update on May 7, the board received a revised proposal from the co-offerors that valued each Betfair share at 920 pence per share in cash or "an unlisted securities alternative of shares and loan notes subject to an overall limit of 250 million pounds or approximately 26% of Betfair's issued share capital," which was similarly rejected after consideration.

A final offer was submitted to the board on May 12 of 950 pence per share in cash, or an unlisted securities alternative of shares and loan notes valued at 920 pence per share subject to an overall limit of 250 million pounds or approximately 26% of Betfair's issued share capital. However, considering the proposal to undervalue the company, the board rejected the consortium for a final time.

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